Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Firsts, That Don't Need Repeating

I don't really want to repeat Sunday and Monday.  It was full of firsts for Boo that never, ever need to be repeated.  It makes me so very thankful that Boo is as healthy as he is.

I think I've mentioned that Boo's been fighting a cough off and on for several weeks now.  This is important at the end of the story.

I guess I have to back up to Friday.  Friday morning Boo wakes up and his cough is back, but he seems OK otherwise.  Well, I got a call from Gak around 2:00 saying he'd been called by daycare and that Boo had a fever of about 101.  So, I go pick up Boo and take him to the doctor.  She says his lungs sound clear and that it's probably just something viral that's been going around.

Saturday we spend at home.  Boo still has a fever and isn't feeling 100%, but he's not too bad.  Saturday night about an hour after he goes to bed his fever climbs quickly to about 102.  I dose him with some Ibuprofin and he goes back to bed and sleeps through.  In the morning his fever is gone and while Boo's a bit tired, we have a good day including running a few errands.  Oh, did I mention I was on call last week and that as I was falling asleep at about 11:00 the phone goes off and I don't get back to bed until about 12:30 or so?  Yeah, already working on sleep deprivation.  Keep that in mind.

Sunday evening we give Boo a bath and put him to bed.  About an hour later (around 9:00) I go climb in the shower to get ready for bed.  While I was in the shower, Gak passes Boo's room and he's whimpering.  Well, a chaotic 15 minutes later that included me throwing clothes on, Boo complaining/crying of abdominal pain  and throwing up once and his fever back up to about 102 and some Ibuprofin we were at the ER.

Yep, Boo ended up in the ER for the first time.  About an hour after we got there his fever was up to almost 106!  They had to wait another hour or so before they could give him some Tylenol because while you can tag-team Ibuprofin and Tylenol, you still have to stagger them by at least 2 hours.  Because of his soupy cough they give him a chest X-ray (another first) and order a CT (yet another first) scan because of the tummy pain.

They put in an IV (still another first) and take a bunch of blood for blood tests and to give him some fluids.  I never, ever want to go through that again.  I never want to hear him scream like that again.  Although, looking back it is kinda funny.  As we were all holding him trying to get the IV in he starts yelling "I really have to go potty!!".  Now, mind you, "I have to go potty" is Boo-speak for "I don't want to be doing this and if I tell you I have to potty I'll get out of it...".  This just makes the very nice and skilled nurses (boy do I appreciate wonderful nurses, and we had several!) hurry just a bit faster.  Once all the screaming is done, I take Boo to the potty and help him pee in the cup for a sample.  (He really did need to pee... but...)

The next adventure was eventually getting him to go for the CT.  His fever was well on its way back down at that point and he was feeling much better.  He's saying that his tummy wasn't hurting much any more.  It was another thing I don't really want to repeat.  Once we got him onto the pad and I was able to hold his hand throughout, he was OK and very still, but it was convincing him it was OK and that I wasn't going anywhere that was the hard, tear-filled and thrashing part.

Well, about 1:30 or so the doctor comes back in and says that it looks like it is appendicitis like we feared with where Boo was saying he was having pain.  It was "borderline", but like the doc said, that's like being "borderline pregnant"; either you've got it or you don't.

So, since our little hospital doesn't operate on anyone under the age of 6 (and it wasn't an emergency at this point) they had to figure out where to transfer him to.  We end up at Lehigh Valley Cedercrest.  This is the hospital where Zoe was born.  It's quite huge now and is a very good hospital.  Most of the pediatric doctors are also at CHOP.  Thankfully we didn't have to drive down to Philly.  Actually, because it was so late and because Gak has to open the store all this week because his boss had surgery last week, we did a little juggling.  Gak ran home and threw together a bag for the boy and me.  Boo and I went by ambulance (still another first) up to Lehigh and Gak took the car and went home to try and get some sleep before work.  It was about 3:00 by the time we got to the hospital.  Thankfully by about 4:00 Boo was asleep.  I dozed for another few hours, but not much.

Well, to make a long and tired day short, by the time we got to Lehigh Boo said his tummy stopped hurting and his fever was well on its way back to normal.  (Point in fact, he didn't get any more fever medicine after the initial Tylenol.)  He slept in until about 9:00 or so, including waking just barely enough to nod at the doctor who was poking and prodding at him and fuss a bit when they drew some more blood through the IV port.  After much consulting amongst themselves and consulting radiology at this hospital, they decide it is not appendicitis after all, but walking pneumonia.

Yep, that's right.  Not his bowels at all, but his lungs.

So, apparently when his fever was on it's way up, his lymph nodes flared and this can cause lots of pain that can present like appendicitis.  The bowels of little kids are very tight and hard to see and you're looking for a structure that's 2" or less in size.  And remember, the doc at our hospital said it was "borderline".  The chest X-ray was clean, but the CT scan catches the bottom of the lungs and the left side was really pretty gunky for lack of a better word.  So, after a few more hours of observation and prodding by yet another doctor and putting in an order for amoxococyllin we're discharged!  We were out of Lehigh about 13 hours after transfer, about 19 hours after heading to the ER in the first place.  Boo and I were both tired but glad to be heading home.  I really have to thank Ed for coming and picking us up.  And I have to apologize for not texting/calling him to keep him in the loop and/or see if he could transport us to Lehigh to save the ambulance cost, but it was 2 am and my brain wasn't working well.  (That and I can never keep track of his schedule...)

Yeah, remember that cough I was talking about at the beginning and the fact that he went to the doctor Christmas Eve for it... well, I'm thinking that's probably when this really all started.  But, his cough kept going away and his doctor and I just figured it was the annual passing of the daycare crud... guess not.

Boo was cleared to go back to daycare today, but I'm keeping him home this morning.  We'll go in at lunch. (Don't get me started on the mess at work, almost none of which is my fault but means I can't get stuff done...)  Right now I have to finish building a Lego trash truck that Boo bought with his gift certificate from Nana.

Peace to all and may your loved ones be healthy, but if not be thankful for the awesome nurses and doctors that will help get them healthy again.  (And may I never have another 48 hours like Saturday night until last night ever again, or at least for a very, very long time.  And yes, I have always known, but am even more thankful that my boy-o is as healthy as a horse!)

Edit:  The flue test they did yesterday actually came back positive.  So, on top of everything else, he has/had the flu.  But, since his temp has been normal for more than 24 hours, he's still clear to go to daycare.  And he seems to be feeling good enough to do so for the afternoon.

Tuesday, January 08, 2013

New Year...

Well, it looks like I haven't started the new year off blogging any better than I ended the last year.
I've also found that I haven't had much to say on Facebook or G+ either.

It's been a busy, if fairly normal, week here.  Of course it's busy, it's reporting month.  And Gak's taken his turn being sick.  And Boo is 4.5 years old.  So, yeah, normal kinds of busy.

There have been some good things though.  Through the magic of trading gift cards with Gak and adding a little cash to the mix, I now own a fitbit zip.  I just got it Saturday evening.  And let me tell you, I really think it is pretty cool.  Yes, it is just a glorified pedometer in many ways.  But, it's one that resets itself at midnight and keeps track of not only how many steps I take, but the frequency and calorie burn and some other cool stuff.  And I can see all the information it has to give me either on a website or my phone.  All I have to do to sync my fitbit is to get within 20 feet of my computer and it does it all by itself.  Oh, and the two coolest bits are the smiley face it gives you depending on how active you're being and the fact that it syncs up with the healthy habits/incentives site my company uses as part of our benefits and earns me points.  These points mean "money" toward any number of really cool things I can order from their catalog.  So, this is a win-win situation all around.  And yes, I can take it into the pool.  (Well, technically it's not waterproof, but a sandwich baggie keeps out 99.9% of the water and it stays put in my swimsuit.)  I'll have to let you know if/how it handles lap swimming.  I didn't get to do laps Sunday because Gak wasn't feeling good and didn't go with Boo and I to the pool.

Oh, yeah, we're going to the pool at the Y just about every Sunday.  Boo starts reminding me about it around Wednesday or so.  One of these days he may actually start swimming instead of just splashing or holding onto me or Gak for dear life.  (Although, he's a bit more willing to come to me, since Gak has a habit of dunking him of taking him through the water features which Boo does not like.)

Next week I'll be heading to western Texas for a few days.  It'll be nice to get away, but I'll miss my boys.  It shouldn't be that hard of a trip, other than the fact that I have to fly through Houston.  I never have a good time flying through Houston.  Actually, the hardest part is that my flight gets back to Philly at about 11:30 pm on Friday night.  We shall see.  It'll be interesting at any rate.

I'd better get my lunch and breakfast packed and me dressed so I can get a boy-o up and dressed.  He already told me he planned on sleeping in today and that I was going to have to wake him.  He's a funny, funny little boy.

Peace to all and may your New Year be starting out on a positive note.